When we have a broad set of apps like Zoho, the real value kicks in when these apps are integrated. So we started integrating our apps with each other (and more to come) as well as integrating them with External apps. In one of my previous posts, I talked about how we integrate our apps with external apps. Some of our previous integrations include...

• Integration with Google/Yahoo Signin
• EchoSign Integration with Zoho Writer
• Flickr & Picasa Integration into Zoho Show
• Paypal, Google Checkout & Authorize.net integration into Zoho Invoice
• Integration with multiple IM Networs in Zoho Chat
  

Today, I want to talk about few other integrations between Zoho and external apps.

Integration with Google Apps Sign-on

With an aim to make it easy for users to try Zoho, we let users signin to Zoho using their Google & Yahoo accounts. We recently extended this support to Google Apps users. This means, businesses using Google Apps can now try our complementary business apps with their Google Apps account.



Google Docs integration into Zoho Projects

'Documents' is an important module in Project management app. We previously had two ways of adding documents to your project 1) Upload from your local system and 2) Upload from Zoho Docs. We recently added a third option. Uploading your documents from Google Docs. If you are a Google Docs user and like to add those documents into Zoho Projects, we now have the option under the documents module in Zoho Projects.



Zoho on Facebook

Zoho Apps are also available on Facebook. We created a Facebook application couple of years back that lists your documents, spreadsheet, presentations & Zoho Creator applications. The good news is, it is tightly integrated into Facebook. This means, you can share your documents etc with members from your friends list on Facebook.



Importing Contacts from Google, Yahoo & Hotmail

In Zoho Contacts, we have an option to import your contacts from Google, Yahoo or Hotmail. You can also import contacts into Zoho Contacts from external email apps like Outlook Express or Thunderbird. You can import contacts from CSV, LDIF & VCF formats.



Zoho OpenSocial Gadgets

Zoho Gadgets let you integrate our apps with external applications. We have over 10 different gadgets (and growing), which are OpenSocial compatible, which can be embedded in other apps like Gmail, iGoogle, Orkut, Ning and many other apps that support OpenSocial. This is yet another way to access your Zoho content within external apps.


These are few other integrations between Zoho and external apps. There are many even more, but I'll talk about others in a subsequent post.